Bid to install Howard as rugby league boss given boot
PHILLIP COOREY CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
October 22, 2009 - 11:17PM
EXCLUSIVE
A PUSH to appoint John Howard to a senior position administering rugby league has been torpedoed by the federal Labor minister and South Sydney Rabbitohs diehard Anthony Albanese.
The Herald can reveal that Mr Albanese was instrumental behind the scenes in lobbying the NRL against giving the former prime minster a role on the code's new independent commission.
Mr Albanese sprung into action on October 7, after News Limited reported that Mr Howard had been approached by league officials to become chairman of the commission.
The minister rang the NRL chief executive, David Gallop, as well as other league officials to tell them it was ''a stupid idea''. Mr Albanese also marshalled officials from the Rabbitohs, of which he was once a board member, to help kill off the idea.
''Nobody I spoke to thought it was a good idea,'' Mr Albanese said.
The intervention has ended any chance of Mr Howard chairing the commission although it may be possible for him to take one of the eight board positions.
The intervention also threatens to reopen the class stereotypes that surround rugby league.
''It's tribal,'' said a source intimate with events. ''It's league versus union, it's Labor versus Liberal.''
Mr Albanese's intervention came after the NRL, as a courtesy, notified the office of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, that it was to approach Mr Howard.
The Herald has been told Mr Rudd was not aware of the request as it was made at a relatively junior level in his office.
Nonetheless, no objection was raised so Michael Searle, the boss of the Gold Coast Titans, approached Mr Howard.
Mr Searle was selected because he was aligned to neither News Limited nor the Australian Rugby League, the joint owners of the NRL, and the commission will be independent.
It is understood the job of chairman was not offered specifically to Mr Howard, only that he was sounded out generally.
Mr Albanese told the Herald he did not act in his capacity as a minister and the issue of funding was never raised by himself or anyone else.
In 2007, before the election, Mr Howard promised the NRL $10 million to help it build a new headquarters for the commission.
In 2008, in its first budget, the Rudd Government cancelled the funding as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
On October 3 this year, the day before the NRL grand final, Mr Albanese reconstituted the pledge, offering $10.4 million and the NSW Premier, Nathan Rees, offering another $1 million.
Four days later, the news broke about Mr Howard being approached - the first time Mr Albanese and others in the ALP became aware of the offer.
Mr Howard declined to comment other than to defend his bona fides as a league fan. He supports St George.
''I'm no Johnny-come-lately to following football,'' he said.
''I've been to a number of St George games this year.''
He missed this year's grand final because he was in Dallas but he watched the game on cable TV.
''I wish the game of rugby league well and I'll continue to follow it with sympathy,'' he said.
Sources said those now under consideration for the position of chairman included the former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon, the retail king Gerry Harvey, and the company director Gary Pemberton.
